


Becoming Human

by FightTheThorn



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Family, Gen, Human, Season 1, Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 14:23:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8627944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FightTheThorn/pseuds/FightTheThorn
Summary: Written for Young Justice Day - 2, Theme: "Training"
Conner is still pretty fresh to Earth and the group decides to help him out in their own little ways.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The theme was "Training" and I thought it'd be fun to kinda take a spin off it and have the team trying to help Conner each in their own way.

"We should try to assist him in any way we can." Kaldur said, taking a seat at the kitchen island with the rest of the group, excluding Superboy. "He doesn't know this world or anything about it. We should attempt to help him like I was when I came from Atlantis by my King."

"I guess we could try it." Robin murmured, putting a finger to his chin as he thought. "I suggest you bring this up to him though. You seem to handle him the best."

Kaldur nodded, looking around at everyone. "We can consider this our first team bonding exercise and also an improvement on ourselves. We must know how to teach others as well as learn."

Everyone at the table consented with a nod.

\----

"You want me to what now?" Conner blinked, looking around the empty room with some confusion.

Kaldur smiled, "I want to teach you some calming methods. I find when I'm angry or upset, having another way to channel my thoughts helps me. I thought I might pass it on to you to see if it might assist you."

Conner swallowed, looking to the door. "I... guess I'm not doing anything."

"Wonderful!" Kaldur moved to the middle of the room and crossed his legs, slowly moving down to sit on the floor. He patted a place next to him for Conner to follow suit.

Conner did, although sitting much less gracefully. The room shook slightly from his weight.

Kaldur ignored it, putting his hands together in a sort of prayer stance. He closed his eyes and breathed in before exhaling slowly. "You should first make yourself comfortable, then close your eyes and take deep breaths in and out. Try to clear your mind of your wandering thoughts and fears."

Conner grimaced, but followed Kaldur's instructions. He mimicked Kaldur's stance, straightening his back, raising his head, putting his hands together, closing his eyes, and trying to breathe in and out slowly. It took some time. He was frustrated by how easily Kaldur was able to achieve this and how stupid he felt just sitting in the middle of a room doing nothing. Was this some sort of ritual? Did Kaldur plan on wanting something else? Was he being teased?

He opened an eye to look at Kaldur and saw him simply sitting there doing nothing, just breathing in and breathing out. Conner closed his eye again and shook his head.

Kaldur was one of the best people on the team. He wouldn't do anything that willingly poked fun at Conner. He was actually trying to help... but why was he trying to help? 

Conner sighed after about an hour of this meditation. He wasn't able to just sit quietly and clear his mind. He thought about so much during it. 

"How did it feel, Conner? Do you feel better at all?" Kaldur stood and held his hand out for Conner to take.

Conner took it and rose. "Uh... yeah. I guess so."

"Maybe this will be something that can help you if you are ever feeling angry or confused. If you would ever like to do this again with someone, I would gladly." Kaldur smiled.

Conner smiled back, but a little less brightly. "Uh, yeah. I'll let you know."

\----

"Okay, so we're going to try to solve this rubix cube." Robin said, leaning over the table and putting the multi-coloured cube in front of Conner. "You can't just smash it to make it work, you have to use your head to make it have just one colour on each side."

Conner scowled at it and then looked at Robin. "Why?"

Robin sat down next to him and looked at him blankly. "In these missions sometimes we need to think about what we're doing before just rushing in. Sometimes it's not the right time, sometimes we should just do recon, sometimes we don't have to bash the bad guy." 

"And... this little box is going to help me with that?" 

"It's not exactly a simulation, but I figured we could just try to use something that forces you think using your head instead of your fists."

Conner picked it up and looked it over more than just a little unsure. "Fine."

They spent a good hour with Conner just moving everything around, growing angry that the colours weren't matching or that any time it felt like he was getting close, he was really further away. It took every ounce of him to not throw it across the room. 

Robin took it and offered a few suggestions and strategies, although he seemed a little irritated too with how hard it was to get Conner to understand how it worked. He offered a few sequences and movements that would help him figure it out before handing it back to him.

After another hour, Conner managed to get one side coloured blue, but the rest of them were still different. 

"Uh... did this help at all?" Robin asked, taking the cube.

Conner swallowed, looking at Robin and thought about Kaldur. They were just trying to help him out. He still didn't understand _why_ they were trying so hard to get him to understand these concepts, but they weren't doing it out of spite or to make him feel stupid. He sighed and nodded a little. "Yeah... I... uh... think I see how to think outside the box a little..."

Robin smiled as he started messing with the cube. "Awesome! Maybe we can do this again sometime."

Conner rubbed his neck as he looked at the cube and at Robin. "Yeah..." Although he hoped he never would.

\----

"The first thing to know about the ladies is they like to be swooned." Wally said, plopping himself down on the couch and grabbing a PlayStation controller. He turned on the system as Conner walked around and sat down beside him. "You have to make them feel like you're listening to them and are interested in what they say." He started a car racing game and started setting up two-player co-op mode.

"Why do I need to know about girls?" Conner asked, picking up the controller and looking at it. "Are they different from guys?"

Wally paused, looking over at Conner and then laughed a little shakily. "Uh... yeah. Like, don't you feel something different when you're hanging out with me or Robin than you do when you're with M’gann or Artemis?"

Conner rubbed the back of his neck and scowled at the television screen. "I feel different things with everyone. Am I supposed to feel one singular thing?"

Wally stared at the screen with wide eyes, gulping and scratching his bright red hair. "Uh..."

"The answer you’re looking for is no."

Conner looked over his shoulder to see Artemis walking out of the kitchen with a peach in her hand. 

"This is _my_ time, Artemis." Wally grumbled. 

"You should be doing a better job then, instead of digging yourself a large enough hole you can lie down in." She walked forward and leaned on the couch, between the two of them, taking a bite of the peach. " _AND_ confusing Superboy. Look, Conner, you can feel a lot of different feelings for a lot of different people. Wally here tried to make it super simple, but it's actually pretty complex. There’s a wide range of emotions and not all of them are good. For example, sometimes you feel absolute disgust for an individual." 

"And hate, don't forget about hate." Wally chimed in. 

"Or sadness that someone almost your age still doesn't know how to act like an adult."

"Or pain at how completely obnoxious someone can be."

Artemis bit her lip and shook her head, not quite looking at either of them. "That one can go two ways." She bit into the peach again and watched as the cars raced across the screen.

Conner scowled at the television screen in absolute silence while the two continued to bicker. Well... that helped with _nothing_.

\----

Conner wasn't quite sure why M'gann got a turn at teaching him how to be an human, considering she wasn't from Earth, but at the same time, he liked spending time with her. Although with the exception that she stayed out of his head.

"So, I figured we'd learn how to bake a cake!" She said excitedly, pulling out the ingredients with her power. A few eggs and milk flew out of the fridge and Conner made sure to stay out of their way unless he ended up being covered in it all like last time. 

He smiled, watching her reading the instructions and going through the list. M'gann made him feel comfortable. Maybe it was because she was pretty new to the whole Earth thing and its customs too. Conner leaned on the kitchen island, watching her and listening as they went through making a cake. He didn't really get quizzed or have much to do with it besides just talking with M'gann about this and that and the team, and how the cake was doing. All-in-all, out of all the 'training exercises' the others put him through, this one was probably the least like the others and the best of them all. 

"And... it's done!" M'gann floated the cake out and put it on a cake stand. "Ooo, look how well it came out, Conner!" She brought out the frosting and started to apply a thin layer of white to the cake before pulling out the different coloured tubes. "Want to decorate it?"

"Uh... yeah. Sure." Conner smiled, taking one and leaning over the cake. He drew a Kryptonian symbol and Superman's sign while M'gann drew a few Martian related images, like Mars and her a portion of her large family on the side. 

And eating the cake wasn't bad either.

\----

After all his 'training,' Conner decided it was best to go outside of Mount Justice for a while in case someone else popped out of the woodwork and decided to inform him about how to be a human being. He walked a long way out until he couldn't see Mount Justice in the distance and even a little further to another city.

The city was huge and filled with stores and restaurants and people. He had never seen so many people in one place before. Conner didn't say much to anyone or even enter any stores. He just looked as the outsider he was, taking in everything he saw. 

He listened to a couple have a conversation, or more like a flirting session, until they finally kissed. He saw a younger guy help an older woman across the street. He saw a store owner give free food to an orphaned girl. 

Conner rubbed the back of his neck as he walked on, smiling at the world around him. Despite the villains trying to take over the world or wreak havoc and the people who only cared about themselves, all these normal people were making the world an easier place for each other to live in. 

And that's all his friends were trying to do. Trying to help him accumulate to the Earth and the world. Maybe help him control a few impulses in the process.

He smiled, thinking about it. 

Conner was surrounded by people who cared about him. A family to fill the empty hole. And that's all he needed to know. 

For now.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Conner or any of the DC franchise.


End file.
